ABSTRACT
Uruguay is a small, underdeveloped, dependent-capitalist nation in the Southern Cone of the Americas. It has no more than three million inhabitants. Capitalism was imposed on Uruguay early on and has been the dominant mode of production since the early 20th century. Uruguay’s dependent capitalism, by taking advantage of the country’s particular characteristics within the framework of a reformist state, was able to promote a significant level of productive development — agricultural and industrial — in the first half of the century. In a country that was dependent yet growing, it was possible to construct a “welfare state” that won Uruguay a reputation as the “Switzerland of the Americas.” Accumulation during this period turned Uruguay into the country with the highest per capita income in Latin America and one of the continent’s most advanced nations in terms of social modernization.
